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Crowdfunding Works Again

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CAMPAIGN TO BRING STORIES TO LIFE FOR ALL CHILDREN REACHES £7000 TARGET

LIFE-Changing Stories, a campaign from Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books to bring books and stories to life for North East children with additional needs has beaten its target of £7000 in under a month, emulating the recent success of CLPE’s library campaign.

The museum and gallery, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, launched their appeal to raise £7000 to fund a range of fully accessible events and experiences that will allow children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities to step into their favourite stories in an inclusive and sensory environment.

In light of the incredible achievement, the charity have announced that they are now looking to stretch the target by £500 to specifically fund opening the Visitor Centre later to enable families with additional needs to enjoy a quieter experience of Seven Stories. Seven Stories audience research shows that families would benefit from later opening times and by allowing families this flexibility the centre aims to encourage even more children to embrace books; raising their aspirations and providing a platform for building confidence levels, coping with feelings and language and learning.

Kate Edwards, chief executive of Seven Stories said, “I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of the North East community and our friends across the UK. You have helped us to open up the colourful, wonderful world of children’s books to lots more children and families with additional needs. All of the money raised will go towards making our activities more accessible to children with additional needs and their families by providing sensory resources that will bring our exhibitions, events and stories to life in a whole new way.

“Our brand new exhibition, Time to Get Up, encourages children and grown-ups to engage their senses and touch, smell, listen and see stories in a whole new way.  The original artwork and manuscripts in the exhibition will be displayed using an entirely new method inspired by touch and feel boards, a first for a British cultural venue. This unique method of curation enables children to explore new, immersive and inclusive ways of engaging directly with the original artwork in the gallery. Young story explorers can see, touch, smell and hear their way through a variety of sensory activities, all linked to the exciting new experiences and routines that every young child encounters.

“Our ambition is for Seven Stories to be a hub for parents and carers of children with disabilities to socialise, play and learn more about how to enrich their children’s lives through the wonderful world of children’s books.

As well as providing additional sensory experiences and BSL / Makaton interpretation for performances and story times, the money raised will also allow the team to increase opportunities for children with additional needs and their families to experience Seven Stories in a calmer, quieter environment.

Beth Coverdale, learning and participation co-ordinator and access champion said, “Hustle and bustle can be overwhelming and we want to offer high-quality sensory performances tailored for children with additional access needs.  Our relaxed story times and performances will have all the magic of a Seven Stories event and will provide a supportive but informal atmosphere for everyone that needs it. These sensory performances have a slightly smaller audience capacity than other showings, to help contribute to a calmer environment for children experiencing stress or anxiety.”

Seven Stories is one of the leading inclusive cultural venues in the region and was awarded the Inclusive Tourism Award at the annual North East England Tourism Awards in 2017.

Money raised through the campaign was eligible for match funding though the Newcastle Culture Investment Fund, in partnership with Newcastle City Council and the Community Foundation for Tyne & Wear and Northumberland and has been kindly matched now the centre has successfully reach their target.

To pledge your support to children and families across the North East visit http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/life-changing-stories  today and join the conversation online by using #lifechangingstories.

Seven Stories Crowdfunding Campaign – Life-Changing Stories

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NATIONAL CENTRE FOR CHILDREN’S BOOKS LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO BRING STORIES TO LIFE FOR CHILDREN WITH ADDITIONAL NEEDS  

SEVEN Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books has launched a crowdfunding campaign to bring books and stories to life for North East children with additional needs. The Life-changing Stories campaign goes live on Crowdfunder UK from 26th February 2018.

The museum and gallery, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, is seeking support to raise £7000 to fund a range of fully accessible events and experiences that will allow children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities to step into their favourite stories in an inclusive and sensory environment.

Kate Edwards, chief executive of Seven Stories said, “Our ambition is for Seven Stories to be a hub for parents and carers of children with disabilities to socialise, play and learn more about how to enrich their children’s lives through the wonderful world of children’s books.

“All of the money raised will go towards making our activities more accessible to children with additional needs and their families by providing sensory resources that will bring our exhibitions, events and stories to life in a whole new way.

 “All children deserve the chance to enjoy books and stories, however they experience the world. We already work with parents, carers and schools across the UK to inspire children and families to choose, enjoy and share books together and this is a chance to bring this offer to even more young people.”

Award-winning author and illustrator Nick Sharratt (Tracy Beaker, Shark in the Park, You Choose) recently donated his archive to Seven Stories and added his voice to the campaign. Nick said, “I love coming to Seven Stories and this campaign will open up the magic and power of children’s books to even more families, in a completely new way. I am always amazed at the creativity and dedication that goes into making Seven Stories an inclusive and immersive experience for every child and I urge everyone who has ever been transported by the power of stories to get behind this campaign. I am extremely excited to see all of the fantastic offers that it will help deliver.”

As well as providing additional sensory experiences and BSL / Makaton interpretation for performances and story times, the money raised will also allow the team to increase opportunities for children with additional needs and their families to experience Seven Stories in a calmer, quieter environment.

Beth Coverdale, learning and participation co-ordinator and access champion said, “Hustle and bustle can be overwhelming and we want to offer high-quality sensory performances tailored for children with additional access needs.  Our relaxed story times and performances will have all the magic of a Seven Stories event and will provide a supportive but informal atmosphere for everyone that needs it. These sensory performances have a slightly smaller audience capacity than other showings, to help contribute to a calmer environment for children experiencing stress or anxiety.”

Seven Stories is one of the leading inclusive cultural venues in the region and was awarded the Inclusive Tourism Award at the annual North East England Tourism Awards in 2017.

The ceremony, held on Thursday 16th November, celebrated the very best of the North East’s prestigious tourism businesses, recognising excellence in a variety of categories and credited Seven Stories for their ongoing partnership with St Oswald’s Hospice to create accessible experiences for children with life limiting illness and their families. This project kick-started the cross organisational initiative to make Seven Stories as accessible and inclusive as possible to all public visitors, including an extensive building refurbishment in 2015.

Money raised through the campaign will be eligible for match funding though the Newcastle Culture Investment Fund, in partnership with Newcastle City Council and the Community Foundation for Tyne & Wear and Northumberland if they successfully reach their target.

Join the conversation online by using #lifechangingstories.

>>> http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/life-changing-stories

Major Fundraising Campaign to Build CLPE Literacy Library

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Earlier this week the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) launched an ambitious and timely campaign to raise funds aimed at refurbishing their central London headquarters with the creation of a permanent collection of children’s books to be used to support their work.

The announcement of the campaign (made on Monday 15th January) ran in key trade magazines The Bookseller and BookBrunch, which helped get things off to a great start. Louise Johns-Shepherd, CLPE’s CEO, has been interviewed on London Live.

As key champions of children’s literacy, the CLPE hopes that creating a Literacy Library will significantly help it continue to provide top-class training and resources for teachers, as well as providing a creative, engaging and accessible hub to be used across the children’s books industry.

As a charity, CLPE has long been instrumental in providing key support to educationalists through training and materials, and is responsible for the widely recognised Power of Reading and Power of Pictures projects, as well as the acclaimed CLiPPA (Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award). Their literacy centre, rather fittingly a former school near Waterloo station, is used widely for events and meetings by other charities that often don’t have their own in-house facilities.

Everything I’ve learnt today has been something I could use in the classroom to improve the enjoyment that children get from books. Thank you so much. Each time I come to CLPE I leave with a revived interest in teaching. CLPE User

The refurbishment is designed to allow a dedicated and permanent space for a collection of 23,000 children’s books, chosen by the CLPE’s in-house experts, creating a comprehensive collection of titles for all primary ages that can be browsed and read with a view to their use in the classroom. Funds raised will also allow for the space in the centre to be enhanced for events, and as a fully resourced venue for large or smaller meetings.

Organisations and individuals are invited to pledge any amount between £100 and £10,000 in return for  having a bookshelf, bookcase, alcove or collection at the centre dedicated to them. High profile names, including BookTrust, Beanstalk and key authors have already lent their support to the campaign.

The Crowdfunding campaign can be found here, where it is also possible to donate smaller amounts.

Having seen the inspiring work CLPE do to help schools to use drama, poetry and stories in creative ways I fully support their bid for improving the building. It’s so exciting to think of their library being able to display all their 23,000 books, and that it could become a nationally renowned training centre for teachers, librarians and literacy charities.
Julia Donaldson, Children’s author, former Children’s Laureate and CLPE Supporter